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This is a picture of one of the pages of the Company Descriptive Book for Pvt Jacob Foreman

This book provided the record of each soldier, their description, their pay, leaves of absence and assignments. If you look on line 1 you will see Nov. 1861: Nov. 19, Ft. Holt Enlisted.

Line 2 Jan, 1862: Absent sick at Gen. Hosp. Mound City, Ill. Mound City is located in the southern tip of Illinois on the Ohio River, just north of Cairo, Illinois where the Ohio meets the Mississippi and just a few miles from Paducah, Kentucky.

My blog posts have provided information on the movement and activities of Company E of the 28th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. This record provides an incredible insight in where Jacob was during this time period, although it appears the company clerk lost track of him for several months between March and May of 1862.

Jacob’s brother William died on February 27, 1862 from typhoid fever at Paducah, Kentucky. This record tells us Jacob also had typhoid fever at the same time. He recovered in the hospital in Mound City, Illinois and then the records show he was ‘absent’ and ‘hospital unknown’ until the August report stating he was ‘absent wounded severely in action, Shiloh, April 6, 1862.”

Jacob must have recovered enough from typhoid fever to join Company E of the 28th Illinois Infantry at Pittsburgh Landing for the battle of Shiloh April 5, 6 and 7, 1862.

In September he is home recovering from his illness and wounds in Time, Pike County, Illinois.

In March, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, commanding U.S. forces in the West, advanced armies under Maj. Gens. Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell southward to sever the Southern railroads. Grant ascended the Tennessee River by steamboat, disembarking his Army of the Tennessee at Pittsburg Landing, 22 miles northeast of Corinth. There he established a base of operations on a plateau west of the river, with his forward camps posted two miles inland around a log church called Shiloh Meeting House. Halleck had specifically instructed Grant not to engage the Confederates until he had been reinforced by Buell’s Army of the Ohio, then marching overland from Nashville. Once combined, the two armies would advance on Corinth and permanently break western Confederate railroad communications.

Bloody Shiloh…

No soldier who took part in the two day’s engagement at Shiloh ever spoiled for a fight again,” recalled one Union veteran. “We wanted a square, stand-up fight [and] got all we wanted of it.” Besides preserving the site of the bloody April 1862 battle in Tennessee, the park commemorates the subsequent siege, battle, and occupation of the key railroad junction at nearby Corinth, Mississippi.

From the history of the 28th:

April 4, 1862 – “Nothing of importance occurred until Friday night April 4, when the enemy sent out a Brigade as a feeler of our position.” General Hurlbut’s Division was put in line, and moved out on the enemy. The night was very dark, and the roads very muddy. After some heavy fighting, for a short time, the rebels fell back. The 28th moved out with the Division a mile and half, and then returned to camp.

April 6, 1862 – Early Sunday morning, April 6, the 28th was called out by the long roll into line, and marched one mile to the front. It was assigned to a position on the left of the line, in the Peach Orchard. The enemy immediately attacked it, but was repulsed with heavy loss, and the 28th held position, under great odds, from 8 o’clock a.m. until 3 o’clock p.m. At 9 o’clock a.m., General U.S. Grant and staff rode up, and the 28th was ordered to hold its position at all hazards, which it did until ordered back by General S.A. Hurlbut, commanding the old fighting Fourth Division. In the conflict the 28th lost heavily in killed and wounded. Lt. Col Kirkpatrick was among the killed, and his horse with him; Major B. C. Gilliam was badly wounded in the left shoulder and his horse killed under him; Adjutant J.B. Meade was mortally wounded and his horse killed.

April 7, 1862 – On the morning of the 7th, the 28th held a position on the right of the line and was hotly engaged until the battle closed and the victory was won.

During those two long, trying days, the Regiment behaved nobly, and was never broken or driven back by the enemy, though often heavily pressed.

The 28th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers sustained 239 killed, wounded and missing. Captain Roberts of Company K, was taken prisoner.

March 9, 1862.
Jacob Foreman was 22 years old. He probably didn’t know that his older brother William had died of typhoid fever on February 27th at Paducah, Kentucky.

Ulysses S. Grant was approaching his 40th birthday.

By swiftly moving and coordinating his attack with a naval bombardment, Fort Henry fell on February 6th 1862 and ten days later Fort Donelson fell with some 14,000 prisoners. In less than two weeks Grant had opened up the road to Nashville and has set the stage for the advance on Vicksburg.

The 28th Illinois Regiment was among the 17,000 troops that left Paris Landing and moved by steamers to Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee stopping each day to gather rails and wood for boats. The 28th was among the first to land, and went into camp near the double log house on the hill, west of the landing, but only for 2 hours; was then ordered out 2 1/2 miles northwest of the landing under command of Major Gilliam, for 3 days picket duty. When relieved, returned to landing, when the Regiment was again moved a mile and a half south of the landing, where it cut out a new camp.

Abraham Lincoln had set high expectations for the conquest of the Rebel supply routes along the Mississippi River. Grant had experienced many victories in the skirmishes and battles he had fought. He had advanced his command to the area of Paris Landing after taking Fort Henry and Fort Heiman. But Major General H.W. Halleck continued to write to the President asking him to dump Grant.

Civil War author Joe Ryan, a Los Angeles Trial lawyer writes:

Instead, Lincoln made Grant a major-general, with “date of rank” being the date Donelson fell. Hitchcock stayed in Washington and Smith, made a major-general on March 21, remained Grant’s junior in rank. Notwithstanding this, Halleck continued to build a basis to move Grant out of the way.

On March 3, he wrote McClellan: “I have had no communication from Grant for more than a week. His army seems to be as much demoralized by the victory of Fort Donelson as was that of the Potomac by the defeat of Bull Run. Satisfied with his victory, he sits down and enjoys it without any regard to the future. C.F. Smith is almost the only officer equal to the emergency.” McClellan wired back almost instantly—Do not hesitate to arrest him at once and place C.F. Smith in command.” How tenuous sits the crown.

Then came this to McClellan from Halleck.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI

Saint Louis, March 4, 1862

Major-General McClellan, Washington

A rumor has just reached me that since taking Fort Donelson General Grant has resumed his former bad habits. If so, it will account for his neglect of my often-repeated orders. I have placed General Smith in command of the expedition up the Tennessee (to Pittsburg Landing and beyond). I think Smith will restore order and discipline.”

H.W. HALLECK, Major-General

And to Grant, on March 4, Halleck wrote this terse instruction.

Maj.Gen. U.S. Grant, Fort Henry

You will place Maj. Gen C. F. Smith in command of expedition, and remain yourself at Fort Henry.

H.W. HALLECK, Major-General

Note: Smith was not in fact a major-general as of March 4. His date of rank was March 21, 1862.

Grant, in his Memoirs, explains the circumstances underpinning Halleck’s March 4th order this way: “On the 2nd of March I received orders dated March 1 to move my command back to Fort Henry. From Fort Henry expeditions were to be sent against Eastport and Paris. On the 6th Halleck wrote me again, `Your going to Nashville without authority” was his reason for [having Smith supercede me in command of the expedition up the Tennessee]. That place was not beyond the limits of my command because it had been expressly declared in orders that the limits of my command were `not defined.’ On the 13th of March I was restored to command. On receipt of the order I proceeded to Savannah. General Smith was delighted to see me. He was on a sick bed at the time, from which he never came away alive.” (edited for brevity)

The historians and civil war writers have heaped much ridicule upon Henry Halleck for his handling of Grant at this time; however, Halleck had—the objective record reflects—legitimate reasons for limiting Grant’s authority for a short time to the environs of Fort Henry. On March 2, Halleck had ordered Grant to move his forces from Donelson to Henry, not aware at the time that Grant had gone to Nashville where Smith’s division had gone, apparently under orders from Carlos Buell. McClellan, as general-in-chief, appears to have been pestering Halleck for a statement of the number of troops and their depositions, under Grant’s command, and Halleck, in turn, was irritated at Grant for not having timely provided them.

At or near the same time, Halleck had received a letter from Illinois Judge David Davis, a close friend of Lincoln, complaining of the fact that government supplies, delivered to Donelson, had been redirected into private hands and had made their way into Illinois to be sold on the civilian market. Compounding his displeasure with Grant was the fact that Grant’s troops, in the days following the victory at Donelson, had pillaged the surrounding countryside, without, apparently, Grant taking any action to stop them. On top of this, an officer had made accusations that Grant was seen repeatedly in circumstances that suggested he was dead drunk. So it ought not come as a surprise that Halleck decided to put Smith in Grant’s place to command the “advance” of the expedition up the Tennessee River.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI
Saint Louis, March 6, 1862
Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant, Fort Henry
I inclose a copy of a letter addressed to Judge Davis. Judge Davis says the writer is a man of integrity and perfectly reliable.

The want of order and discipline and the numerous irregularities in your command since the capture of Donelson are matters of general notoriety, and have attracted the serious attention of the authorities at Washington. Unless things are immediately corrected, I am directed to relieve you of the command.
H.W. HALLECK, major-general

But the evidence preponderates in favor of the conclusion that, after making a brief effort to get Washington’s approval for dumping Grant, Halleck decided he had no choice, however unpalatable to his taste Grant was, but to leave Grant in command of the District of West Tennessee, which command Grant continued to hold at the time he returned to Fort Henry on March 5; especially if Grant got his act together which he promptly did.

Halleck, at this time, was doing everything in his power to move as much force as possible from every point in his department to the rear staging area of Paducah and up the Tennessee, to reinforce the advance now being made under Smith’s command; the object of which was to reach as far as Eastport—with its strategic objective to establish an advanced staging area for an attack on Corinth, Mississippi, the railroad crossroads between the Mobile & Ohio Railroad and the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. Everything Halleck did, between March 4 and March 17th, when Grant took command at Savannah, was geared to accomplish this goal.

On March 5th, Halleck wired Grant, who then was at Fort Henry, the following: “It is exceedingly important that there should be no delay in destroying the bridge at Corinth or Bear Creek. If successful, the expedition will not return to Paris, but will encamp at Savannah, unless threatened by superior numbers. Prepare everything to reinforce Smith there.” At this time, Halleck had Sherman in command at Paducah, forwarding troops to Grant at Henry, for movement forward to Smith, as he could free them from reserve duty in Missouri, where they were backing up Curtis in his pursuit of Van Dorn into Arkansas and Pope’s efforts to capture the Confederates blocking the Mississippi at Island No. Ten. Plainly, Halleck needed Grant at Henry, managing the movement of gunboats and transports on the Tennessee, more than he needed Grant leading the “advance” of an expedition which, in its initial stages, would be establishing an advanced staging area in anticipation of an advance overland to Corinth where Halleck expected “the battle of the West” to take place.

So, for the 28th Illinois Regiment March 6, 1862 the official history record reads: Having been assigned to General S. A. Hurlbut’s Division the 28th moved from Fort Heiman to Pars Landing, marching in a blinding snowstorm all day. The 28th Illinois stays at Paris Landing until March 9, 1862.

August 15, 1861
Company E of the Twenty-eighth Regiment was organized at Camp Butler and mustered in to service for three years.

August 28, 1861
The Twenty-eighth Illinois Regiment was dispatched to St. Louis, Missouri by steamship where it was armed thence to Thebes, Kentucky accompanied by General U.S. Grant.

September 9, 1861
The Twenty-eighth Illinois Regiment was moved to Bird’s Point, Missouri.Bird’s Point was a strategic site during the Civil War. The Battle of Charleston was fought in the vicinity on August 19, 1861. Union cavalry under David P. Jenkins guarded the region for the early part of the war, deterring Confederate attempts to regain control of the supply routes. Once secured, Bird’s Point was transformed into an important supply and repair site, as well as a training camp and military post, for the Union army and navy.

October 2, 1861
The Twenty-eighth Illinois Regiment was moved to Fort Holt, Kentucky remaining there until January 31, 1862 in Col. John Cook’s Brigade.

January 31, 1862
The Twenty-eighth Illinois Regiment was moved to Paducah, Kentucky assigned to Col. M.F. Smith’s Brigade, General Lew Wallace’s Division. This is about the time Jacob’s older brother William Foreman came down with typhoid fever and was sent to the general hospital in Paducah.

February 5, 1862
The Twenty-eighth Illinois Regiment moves up the Tennessee River. General U.S. Grant was named commander of the Army of the Tennessee. His mission was to cut off the Mississippi river supply routes to the Rebel’s.

February 6, 1862
The Twenty-eighth Illinois Regiment landed on the right bank, three miles below Fort Henry and Fort Heiman. The river being very high, thereby filling the sloughs to cut off the retreat of the rebels at Fort Heiman. But owing to the difficulty the enemy got away, but not without leaving all his camp equipage, and a hot dinner, which our boys ate with relish. The Twenty-eighth was the first to enter the Fort Heiman.

Union cavalry was able to scout the area and obtain good information about road conditions between the two forts. Grant accompanied one of the patrols and rode to within sight of Fort Donelson, thus obtaining valuable information about the lay of the land, before he decided to leave Fort Henry and attack Fort Donelson. The weather had been warm and spring-like.

On February 11, 1862, Grant’s Union army began its march across the twelve miles to Fort Donelson. Grant was also able to send several regiments around by water. He left one brigade, under the command of General Lew Wallace, to hold Fort Henry. McClernand’s Division arrived at Fort Donelson on February 12 and began surrounding the fort. McClernand moved to the east side of the work while Smith’s Division moved to occupy heights along the west side of Fort Donelson later that same day.

On February 13, the Union continued to position and surround the fort. Both division commanders ordered attacks against the Confederate works without success. By this time, Fort Donelson had been reinforced, bringing its garrison to 15,000 to 17,000. Grant was facing an army roughly the same size or perhaps slightly larger than his own. He sent word for Wallace at Fort Henry to bring his brigade forward. That night the wind shifted and the temperature began to drop. A heavy rain that soaked both armies was followed by a snowstorm that lasted all night. Morning dawned with two inches of snow on the ground and temperatures well below freezing.

February 13, 1862
A detachment of 48 men from Company E, Twenty-eighth Illinois Regiment and 12 officers under Col. A.K. Johnson met Col. Claiborne’s Rebel Cavalry, 500 strong, at Little Bethel Church, 5 miles west of Fort Heiman, and immediately attacked them, taking two prisoners.

February 27, 1862
Jacob Foreman’s brother William died from typhoid fever in Paducah, Kentucky. He left a wife and two small children in Pike County, Illinois. She later re-married and the family moved to Colorado with Jacob and his family and Jacob’s brother David Foreman in 1887.

Coming up next – March 6, 1862, fortifying positions at Paris Landing and Pittsburgh Landing to engage the enemy in what became known as the battle of Shiloh.

Jacob Foreman, the third child of David Foreman and Elizabeth Horine was born in 1793 in Kentucky. After his father David, died in 1811, Jacob served from November 1814 to May of 1815 in the War of 1812 with Captain George McAfee’s Company, Kentucky detached militia – Commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Slaughter.

After Jacob returned from the War of 1812, Elizabeth Horine Foreman claimed land in Ohio her brother left her after his death. ‘Eli’ as she was called, had to fight the courts in Ohio because at that time women were not allowed to own land. Eli prevailed and she and her seven sons, including Jacob, moved from Kentucky to Buford, Highland County, Ohio.

In 1833 Jacob Foreman married Margaret Briggs, they had ten children. Just before 1851 the family moved to Time, Pike County, Illinois. Their second child, William Foreman born in 1835 enrolled in Company B, Twenty-eighth Infantry Regiment of Illinois. He mustered August 26, 1861 from Springfield, Illinois but died of typhoid fever on February 27, 1862 in Paducah, Kentucky. Their sixth child was named Jacob, born December 7, 1840. It is this Jacob Foreman who enlisted as a private on November 1, 1861, Company B, Twenty-eighth Infantry Regiment of Illinois that I will follow on his journey through the Civil War 150 years ago.

Later this year I will add Edwin R. Squires who enlisted on August 21, 1862 in the Thirty-third Infantry Regiment of Wisconsin for his journey through the Civil War.

Edwin Squires was the father of Grace Irene Squires who married Robert Sidney (Sid) Foreman the son of Jacob Foreman. Grace and Sid were the parents of Mary Frances Foreman Hancock.

What I have learned is remarkable and I am eager to share this information with you.

In May of 2007 my husband and I drove from Denver to St. Louis, stopping in southern Illinois to research my family history. My great grandfather Robert Sidney ‘Sid’ Foreman was born in Time, Pike County, Illinois. This is a very small town. A church, two houses, maybe four mobile homes and this beautiful little park make up the entire town. In the park is this amazing two story bandstand.

The only information on the internet I could find about this two story bandstand is shown here:

Time – Second smallest incorporated town in Illinois-population 36. An old two-story bandstand stands in the park.

The residents of Time take pride in their old two story bandstand in the park. The park really comes alive on Fall Color Drive weekend.